H.S. girls basketball: Loudonville pulls out hard-fought win

Wednesday

Dec 6, 2017 at 10:01 PMDec 7, 2017 at 12:05 AM

By Chris SnowGateHouse Media Ohio

LOUDONVILLE — On a night when several players struggled to find their shot, Loudonville’s girls basketball team still managed to do just enough to claim a 51-41 non-league win over visiting Danville on Wednesday night at Loudonville High School.

The victory runs the Redbirds’ season-opening winning streak to four games.

Holding a 43-39 lead a minute into the final period, Loudonville played keep away with the ball for the majority of the quarter with point guard Celeste Ryman controlling possession at the top of the perimeter while the Blue Devils (2-1) sat in their zone. Any time a Danville defender would apply pressure, Ryman would drive the lane and pass the ball out to the perimeter to an open player, who would send the ball around the horn once again until it found its way back into Ryman’s arms.

With a little under a minute remaining, Ryman darted into the lane, splitting multiple defenders on her way to a layup that put Loudonville up 45-39.

Danville’s Taylor Duncan was fouled five seconds later and made a pair of free throws to pull her team back to within four points. That would be as close as the Blue Devils would get, however, as the Redbirds hit six consecutive free throws down the stretch — two by Ryman and four by Emily Seboe — to close out the victory.

"I’m thrilled with the adjustments that our girls made throughout the game when shots weren’t going in," Loudonville coach Tyler Bates said. "At the end of the game when they wanted to sit in that zone, we really wanted them to have to come out and guard us.

"I thought the girls did an awesome job of taking care of the ball in the fourth quarter."

Ryman led all scorers with 23 points while Seboe added 16. Steph Kline and Danville’s Bobbi Berger each pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Seboe added seven boards, and Ryman grabbed six caroms.

The Blue Devils’ tandem of Lauren Mickley and Cece Newbold were a load to handle inside for the Redbirds for the majority of the contest. The pair controlled the paint, getting multiple easy looks at the basket with a ferocious style of play. Both players ran into foul trouble in the second half, causing issues for Danville coach Matt Proper, who only played seven players for the majority of the game. Mickley finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Newbold tallied 17 points and seven boards.

"We’re a little banged up, so we’re a little shallow with depth," Proper said. "Having them (Mickley and Newbold) in foul trouble was no doubt (an issue) because they’ve logged a lot of time for us in the past. It definitely didn’t help them being on the bench."

"Cece and Lauren are just tremendous players," Bates said. "They’ve got great moves. They can both shoot the ball. They’re matchup nightmares. We knew coming into the game that we’d have our hands full with them, but I was proud of the girls for battling. We’re never going to shut two players like that down, but I thought we made them work for most of their points."

The first quarter was closely contested, with Danville’s biggest lead being four points and Loudonville’s biggest advantage two. After Mickley buried a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the initial stanza to put Danville up 17-13, LHS came out in the second period with guns blazing.

The Redbirds started the quarter on a 12-0 run that was fueled by multiple second-chance opportunities from offensive rebounds — five points were scored off those boards — and that was capped by a Seboe trey.

"With some of the defenders and shooters that we have, we can go on runs like that. It’s just a matter of putting them together," Bates said. "After we kind of came out a little bit lackadaisical in the first quarter, we were waiting for that one big run. When it happened, we needed it."

Danville weathered the storm and kept the game close for the remainder of the quarter, going into the intermission down 28-24.

The Redbirds built another lead halfway through the third period when Sydney Snyder buried a triple to put them up 37-28. But, the Blue Devils once again responded as Mickley put in a layup and Newbold followed with two of her own.

A Ryman 3-pointer put Loudonville back up 40-34, but Newbold once again scored in the paint, giving her eight points in the quarter, to pull the Blue Devils to within four points (40-36) with two minutes left in the period.

After Berger made a pair of free throws a minute later to cut her team’s deficit to two points, Ryman went down the court, side stepped to her left and buried a 3-pointer while fading away to give the Redbirds a 43-38 lead entering the final stanza.

Loudonville and Danville each had 35 rebounds in the game. Danville turned the ball over 16 times, while Loudonville committed 13 miscues.

Proper wanted Loudonville on his team’s schedule because he knew it would be a quality non-conference game.

"It’s a good rivalry from our previous league (Mid-Buckeye Conference)," said Proper, whose school is now a member of the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference. "Coming in, it’s a tough place to play. I knew it could go either way.

"What you want out of non-conference games is really just to assess your team and see where you’re at. It was a good early season assessment against a quality team."